ZOMBIES THE VALUE OF OLD LEAD REVIEWS TUTORIALS PAINTING CONTESTS

AWESOME TERRAIN TUTORIAL GORE-ROT SBS

Stephan Simon Reaper Dark Sword DGS Games & Guild of Harmony

ISSUE 28 Oct/Nov 2012

Reviews FROM

Say Hello to Wamps newest member.

Meet Gronk, a thirty something Ork who still lives with his mum. He likes crushing skulls, drinking Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. Gronk is currently single and one day hopes to be an Ork Boss or social worker. His proudest moment was when he appeared on The Weakest Link.

Sculpted by Sergey Savenkov and cast in resin. He stands 50mm tall

RRP is 19.99 but Wamp members have the option to purchase him for just 14.99 for the next 7 days. If youre a Wamp member you can find the members only code via this link here. (If youre not a Wamp member you can sign up to take advantage of this offer) Non-members can purchase him as normal via The Wampstore here.

Christmas SDE
by Brushmistress Winner 2012 Sodapop Mininatures Painting Contest.

welcome to issue 28
CREDITS
WAMP Founder, OGL and Co-Editor Brett Johnson Layout & Co-Editor Shane Rozzell Cover Image Christmas SDE Brushmistress Proof Readers Martyn Dorey Ian Pursey Review Editor Randy Shea (Cregan Tur) Review Team MaGie NeatPete Cregan Tur Captain Sprout Darklord Shane Rozzell Contributors WAMPERS of the World united:) Find us at wampforum.com wampforum.com/portal Contact Portal at portal@wamp-forum.com

Wow! How did we get to November already? I am sure as you get older time moves faster. Einstein probably had a theory on it! Most of us are probably thinking towards Christmas and that inevitably leads to an urge for shiny new miniatures though we usually end up with socks! This year though you may want to show Santa a copy of this issue of Portal as we show off the latest addition to the Wamp family: Gronk. Hes the first in our very own line of miniatures (though technically hes a bust!). Its been a very exciting (and stressful!) time getting him sorted and I think I have caught the bug of producing minis! You can find more on him further in the issue. As well as Gronk I have been busy churning out yet more mini related goodness for you all. This month sees us launch our ever popular red Box Games contest and that brings us to 4 active contests at the moment!! Also this month we launched the Wamp Awards 2012. Back for its third year its bigger and better than ever with more categories. Its a great chance to nominate artists, companies and products from our hobby that you feel deserve recognition for what they have achieved this year. I know from previous years the winners are always pretty excited to get your vote. We also have a little milestone this month on the 25th. That day marks 4 years since Wamp moved to its own site and became Wamp, changing from the old eBay groups system. When we took up our own place we had 19 members. Today we have 2483 which represents 2 new members every day for the last 4 years! It really is you guys and gals that make Wamp and Portal succeed and its heart-warming to see so many people being a part of our humble community. So thanks to you all and heres to the next 4 years! Cheers Brett

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Material herein does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Portal Magazine staff who are not liable for said opinions. All textual copy has been taken from the Wargames and Miniatures Paradise Forum website. Artwork has also been either taken from Wargames and Miniatures Paradise Forum or from company websites pertaining to the image and may not be reproduced (except for personal use) without prior written permission from the said author / artist. Most product names are trademarks owned by the companies that publish those products.

in this issue
Veiew from the Hill Tutorial CONTENTS
News

Review

View from the Hill

Weve all got some and no doubt weve all wondered what their worth. Tim Fitch explains how to sell out old lead.

Sean Fulton shows us how he painted his excellent (I have only seen one better ;P) Gore-Rot the goblin Assassin.

Tutorial

Contest

In The Box

Review

Review

In The Box

Meet the WAMPER

Review

WAMP Awards BRAINZZZ!. Jake Cannon give us his opinion of Flying Frog Productions Zombie Board Game. MaGie reviews Guild of Harmonys Maria Poppets and Albert Steampunk miniature.

Latest Releases

Review

WAMP Awards

Review

Tutorial

Wiki

Contest

Review Shane lets fly on a new miniature from ex-rackham sculptor Stephan Simon and lets us know if it cuts the mustard. And the nominations are... Its that time again when we nominate who or what were the best for 1012.

Gallery

Random Musings

6 8 10 14 19 20 22 28 30 33 34 38 40 44 45 46 48 58

NEWS

For all the very latest industry news check out wampforum.com

...in this issue

Welcome to issue number 28 of Portal, the number one E-Magazine dedicated to miniature painting. Well whos ready for Christmas? Not me for one and I havent got a clue what hobby fix Santa is going to bring me but to help me choose we have the WAMP 2012 Annual Awards were you can vote on the best products the year has brought us. Also in this issue Tim Fitch helps find out if our old lead piles are worth anything, Jabberwocky shares how he painted his version of Gore-Rot the goblin assassin and Marko brings us another instalment on how to make Awesome Terrain for the tabletop. We have lots of great reviews including one from WAMPs very own SimonS and as always all the latest new releases from around the hobby. Also in this issue we launch a new painting contest from one of the best independent miniature companies around, Red Box Games and we have all the entries from last months Sodapop Miniatures Painting contest. As always we finish up with a word from our favourite Canadian. Hangar 18 Miniatures Photo Backgrounds Now Bigger and Better In A2 Size The original compact size (11 x 17 in or A3/Tabloid) photo backgrounds were very well received. However, we have received many requests for bigger size background for larger models and vignettes/small dioramas. We are very pleased to announce that the Studio Series Hi-Def Photo Backgrounds are now also available in A2 size (16.5 in x 23.4 in) for a price of $24.99. The A2 size is approximately twice the size of the A3/Tabloid size (11x17 in). See the size comparison below: Freebooter Miniatures 10 year anniversary Indiegogo campaign have launched an Indiegogo campaign on the occasion of our 10 year business aniversary. Thats right, weve been in business for ten years now. And to let everybody share in the celebrations, we decided to release a special set of limited edition miniatures. We made it a crowdfunding campaign so you can choose how deeply you would like to get involved. One important bit up front: postage is free. Worldwide. So what can you get? Well, the core consist of a set of five miniatures, all of whom have left their special mark on the world of Freebooters Fate. Yes, these characters come with characetr cards and equipment cards as well, which means you can use them in games of Freebooters Fate as well. The basic set will be available on Indiegogo and - albeit at a higher price - in normal retail thereafter for the rest of our anniversary year. The really interesting advanced option(s), the one(s) with the bonus bits and everything, that/those will only be available on Indiegogo. Roman & Raffa of Massive Voodoo turn to Indiegogo to produce their Miniature painting Book The book will be filled with high-resolution photos of our projects and the bigger projects (like e.g. award winning projects) will have some further commentary on them like our ideas for it or how the project developed. The book will be high quality hardcover book with around 80-100 A4 pages. Here is a little Preview

www.dark-art-studios.co.uk boasting a new engine and looks we are taking things to the next level... 6
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For all the very latest industry news check out wampforum.com

NEWS

It has been a very busy couple of months for MDP what with the work up towards EuroMilitaire and then the IPMS Nationals, not to mention all the other shows in between, new figures and busts have been released during this period as well as a lot of new products added to the website. As the show season here in the UK now draws to a close though we are not going to be hibernating for the winter, we have a lot of new things planned from new display plinths through to new figures and busts and gaming bases, a new bust was shown at the Gravesham Show and a week later at Telford and received some positive feedback and he will be up on the site shortly, we also have two new 120mm round lip bases and a set of 30mm, 40mm and 50mm round lip bases with an industrial rubble theme about to be released very, very shortly. We have around 200 products to add to our growing range as soon as we get a chance, these include all the MiniNatur products that we stock and a growing selection of Albion Alloys products which is an excellent range of abrasives to help you get the perfect clean up prior to painting your model as well as other useful items, we will try and get all of this up on the site as soon as we possibly can. For those that haven't visited the site for a while we now have a Facebook page and a link to that page on the website so all news will also be appearing there and as well as the news in the events bit of our Facebook page we be listing all the details of the shows we are going to be attending and there are a lot of them planned for next year. Our last show of the year is Bugle Call held at the Cricket Pavilion in Bath so if you can get along to the show it is well worth it and you can leave the better half in Bath itself to wander the shops in piece or treat her to a spa.

Platoon Britannica presents Rae of Sunshine As some in the painting community may know, Platoon Britannica has spent 2012 trying to support British indie manufacturers by running painting competitions every three months or so. By encouraging people to paint models produced by our local businesses, we hope to help them through the tough times that have hit, as well as giving painters a focus for their efforts and highlighting the wonderfully quirky world that is the British miniature industry. For the next Best of British competition, we've selected the magnificent Statuesque Miniatures. Andrew Rae is a bit of a newcomer to the sculpting game, but he's already impressed a great many of aficionados, not to mention a good number of the masters! On top of this, he's supported events like the Weekend Workshop run by John Harrison (Darkmessiah), and broken the mould for small businesses by developing multi-part models with a range of accessories. Unlike our previous competitions, were throwing the Mod contest open to all comers! In addition to our usual paint anything you like from the manufacturer competition, weve selected one of Statuesques models for a special competition, so that painters can pit themselves against the likes of Scott Hockley (Iacton) and Peter Bell (Avicenna). If youd like to see if you can beat the staff of Platoon Britannica, youll have to paint Poppy Come-Lately but, like our standard competition, there are few limits on what you can do with the model! If youd like to get involved, head on over to Platoon Britannica, sign up for an account, and paint up something wonderfully British for a good cause! Prizes are on offer for the top two entries in our general competition, including Poupee Canopes Bunny Girl, and, for the special contest, the most delicious of all prizes: the right to brag.

54mm Kreimhilds Revenge From Morland Studios We have released our first 54mm miniature in our officially licensed Howard David Johnson line. Kreimhilds Revenge was sculpted by Sebastian Archer. She can be found in our online store here.
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REVIEW

If you have a product you would like us to review then contact us at reviews@wampforum.com

Group Review
Images courtesy of Dark Sword Manufacturer
Dark Sword

Dark Swords Male Ranger

Material Price Contact

Metal $9.99

Cregan Tur The Male Ranger (not to be confused with Male Elf Ranger from a previous review. Everyone still with me? Okay, good) from Dark Sword has become a pretty well known figure thanks to the incredible monotone paint job by Jen Haley that Miniature Mentor made a tutorial for but thats an entirely different review. Here the focus is on the miniature itself. First off, I have to be honest and say that I always thought this guy was holding a hunting horn. Only after taking a closer look, and reading the description, did I realize it is actually a wineskin. This is a 4 part kit with the body and base sculpted as a single unit, a bow for the right hand and an option for the left between the wineskin and a sword held in a reverse grip. This is a very beautiful and dynamic sculpture that suggests a lot of movement. The direction of the flowing hair and rippling fabric suggests a strong wind at the rangers back as he steps atop a boulder to assess the scene below. The attached base is a little plain, being only bare rock, but it is incorporated into the figure so well that the two parts form a scene. This is wonderful because it creates a great miniature, but its also good because it would take a lot of work to separate. There are locating plugs on the wrists and holes in the hands, but I had to spend a good bit of time filing down the plugs to get them to fit and even then it was a pretty rough fit. The left hand I ended up having to pin after filing away the original plug. It wasnt hard to attach the hands, but I have found that a good bit of work is almost always required for attaching small parts on Dark Sword miniatures. The only true problem I encountered is that the bottom half of the bow snapped off. Luckily it broke right where the bow

www.darkswordminiatures.com

Other Information
Sculpted by Jeff Grace

9.5

8.75

9.6

Ratings Beautiful, dynamic figure that gives a painter a lot to work with. The dynamics are worth the assembly and you get a choice for the off hand. $10 is very fair for this mini. Id pay at least 50% more for if I had to.

Assembly

Quality

meets the hand, so it was a simple pin job to get it back in place. As per usual for Dark Sword, there were only minor mold lines to deal with and a couple of gate tags that were easily removed. The only thing I did not like was seeing a small chunk of metal connecting the outside of the left arm to the cloak. Its very easy to tell that it was put there as a part of the casting process- otherwise there would have been a pretty serious undercut to deal with, but it still does not look good. It would take a considerable amount of work to remove this piece, so its something youll just have to deal with if you dont want to take a few hours to carefully remove it. It wouldnt be so bad if it werent so noticeable. Ive mentioned before that Dark Sword understands how to balance open spaces with fine details and this is another good example. The cloak and clothing provide a lot of open areas for painting fine fabric and adding your own details through freehanding. There are also a number of small details, like filigree on the gauntlets, laces in the shirt, and studs on the armour that provide excellent opportunities to show off your brush control. This is a figure that begs to be painted.

Value

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If you have a product you would like us to review then contact us at reviews@wampforum.com NeatPete Weve all seen that sweet muted palette paint job of this mini around the interwebz. While I also drool over that sweet paint job by DS house painter Jen Haley, its not why I love this mini. The mini leans over a rock and the entire sculpt compliments his pose. The hair flows forward as the cloak ripples around and extends forward. This mini feels to me as if its peering into a large open space from an elevated position. With the wind at his back overlooking the cliff, the ranger surveys the land before him and ponders his options. This mini offers great diorama and extensive basing opportunities. The detailing and cast is great. The face has a strong brow line and goateed chin that tell you this dude doesnt mess around. He sports a curved bow in the right hand, while you get the choice of a wine skin or a sword that is held upside for the left hand. The joins are small and delicate but the cast-in holes and stubs match up pretty well. If its to be used for a gaming mini, Id recommend pinning it. Shane Rozzell Thanks to Jen Haleys iconic paint job of this miniature it has become very well known and I have to say at first glance that it really does step up to the mark. Dark Sword Miniatures Male Ranger comes on an integral base and in three pieces, the two hands carrying weapons being separate from the rest of the miniature. There is also the option to change what his left hand is carrying, either a sword or a wine/waterskin; I plumbed for the sword option. These pieces are very small and will need pinning and on mine the bow was broken during transit so I had to do some repairs. This meant bring out my smallest drill bit and very carefully pinning the upper bow-stave to the hand grip. I attached his hands at the same time and to be honest, I was pleased with the results, fixing such tiny parts is difficult but I took my time and it all worked out well.

REVIEW

The male ranger is sculpted by Jeff Grace who, in my opinion, has done a superb job capturing a very dynamic pose and adding fantastic detail and an elegant subtlety to the miniature which really makes it stand out. This miniature isnt that new either but it still stands heads and shoulders over some of the newer sculpted stuff being released today. It has a nice balance of detail and smooth open areas that has and will continue to attract superb paint jobs and I look forward to getting some paint on mine too. The casting, like 99% of all of Dark Swords miniatures is very good but this guy has one mould line, down his left leg, that was pretty hard to get to simply because it was close to the billowing cloak. It took a bit of time to clean off which Im not complaining about as it gives me ample time to learn about the miniature and work out what bits to paint first. I made a few notes about certain areas in my painting journal (yes I do have one, how big a nerd am I?). There are a few other mould lines but they can all be gotten easily enough. I decided that this miniature deserved some special attention so he was first filed with my diamond impregnated files, this was then smoothed out with some finer metal files then some GW Liquid Green Stuff was used. Once that was dry I went at it with some 400 grit wet and dry then some 800 grit wet and dry to get the smoothest of finishes. Once this guy was prepped and primed he really did look the business and I was very pleased with how it came out.

Ratings Cregan Tur Quality: 9 / 10, beautiful, dynamic figure that gives a painter a lot to work with. Thinness of bow caused breakage at hand. Awkward piece on left forearm adds distraction. Assembly: 9 / 10, pinning may be required as locating plugs dont seem to fit. Value: 9.5 / 10, extremely reasonable price for an excellent figure. Overall: 9.2 / 10, this is an excellent miniature that is a genuine piece of art, even with a couple of small issues that knocked some points off of its score. Its a figure that would be a joy to paint and is really unlike anything else available. Sure, there are other ranger miniatures out there, but I dare you to find one with this much character and interest. I can honestly say that this should be a must have piece for every avid miniature painter. NeatPete Quality: 9.5/10, this entire sculpt compliments itself and depicts a very cinematic character in a perfect pose. Assembly: 8.5/10, the dynamics are worth the assembly and you get a choice for the off hand. Value: 9.5/10, $10 is very fair for this mini. Id pay at least 50% more for if I had to. Overall: 9.2/10, its the good stuff! Shane Rozzell Quality: 9.5/10, he really is worth every point. Assembly: 8.75/10, I would have given a high score but for the broken bow stave. For some miniatures it hard to justify the time it takes to prepare a miniature for painting but this guy deserves it. Value: 10/10, its very rare to review a miniature that gets a maximum score especially in the value category but $9.99 (about 6.15) is almost ridiculously cheap for this miniature. Overall: 9.5/10, I have seen a lot of miniatures in my 25 years or so in the hobby. I do think this is one of the best ever and if you havent already got this in your collection go get it now!

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FEATURE ARTICLE

...the monthly article written by Miniature Heroes owner Tim Fitch

VIEW from the HILL

OldWhats Lead it Worth?

he impulse purchase at last years Salute, the extra force of space marines that have never quite made it to the painting table. And there were the numerous, Ooo shiny, I like that, moments that resulted in a dozen or so half started projects. Going on the old gamers adage that you wont die until youve painted the last miniature in your mountain, some of us are heading towards immortality. So having looked at the enormity of the task, perhaps its best if we do sell some. Besides the cash will be useful. But how to realise it? Now running the sort of shop that I do, and having a passion for old lead this is an area Im sometimes asked to advise on. Basically Ive got this and this, whats it worth? The first rule of selling anything is its only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. Some items should be worth X amount, but you may only get Y if the buyers dont like it. With this in mind have a good look at what you want to sell and find out if its still in production. It may sound silly, but so many people just dont do this and blindly assume they have an out of production rarity. More often than not, it could well still be being made by someone somewhere. Most miniature ranges dont die and disappear; they get bought by other people and produced again. Grenadier and Ral Partha are great examples of this. Both met sorry ends and production stopped. But both have now been resurrected. Mirliton produces quite a bit of the old Grenadier line, with Mega Minis doing quite a lot of the character figures. I believe Armorcast even make a few too. Ral Partha Europe and Iron Wind Metals keep a good proportion of the old Ral Partha line chugging along. This is important as it means there will be a ceiling on the price you can charge and expect to get for your item.

Weve all been there. Looking at the lead mountain with the cold light of reason, usually being shone by a significant other. I mean it is a valid point; do I really need all that?

So youve selected what you want to sell, have identified it, made sure its complete, now how are you going to sell it?
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FEATURE ARTICLE
So with the identity sorted, and whether its still in production or not youre now in a better position to try and work out a value. Here the rules of rarity and desirability come into play. Top of the list is Games Workshop, which may sound strange for such a prolific and long lived manufacturer. The thing is GW is a bit odd when it comes to miniature production, especially in its first 15 to 20 years. A production mould can wear out after a while, but if you have the original master castings, new production moulds can be made. Indeed as long as the master mould survives in good condition, the miniatures it contains can be put back into production. Just about every miniature manufacturer keeps its back catalogue in production to some extent. Ral Partha even had figures for sale in 1993 that had first been produced in 1979. But Citadel, for reasons known only to them, tends to have short production runs. Some miniatures may last a few years in production, but by and large after about 18 months theyre discarded for something new. This mean there are less in circulation and therefore command a higher price. The other factor is desirability. People like GW products. They couldnt have grown to the size they are if it wasnt for the fact people buy their stuff. It has a powerful brand presence that draws people in, and too a degree always keeps them interested, if maybe not outright fans. So if you have GW minis to sell, potential buyers are more likely to know what they are, and more importantly, want them. Over the years Ive found used GW miniatures sell better and for more than other manufacturers. There are a few exceptions, Dwarf miners for example, but most will do better than either Grenadier or Ral Partha. Their specialist ranges, like those for AD&D were a short lived range, but are really sought after. Doctor Who, Judge Dredd, and Lone Wolf are others that make a bit more too. Indentifying these from the more standard Citadel fare is well worth while in the extra money they will yield. So youve selected what you want to sell, have identified it, made sure its complete, now how are you going to sell it? Well here there are once again different options. Firstly you may belong to a game

For example, you wish to sell an old Grenadier Red Dragon II from their Dragon of the month boxed set series. Never been painted, but the box has gone along with the little character model that also came with it. However you bought this over twenty years ago so it must be worth 50.00 by now? Not really, Mirliton is still producing it for a little over 20.00. So why would someone buy your old one for 50.00 when they can get a new one for less than half that? Now if it was a Red Dragon from the first series, with box, altar and gemstone, then that is a different matter. Sadly I see this all too often on my frequent forages through the eBay listings. There is no law against selling your items for as much as you can get. But when what youre selling is available cheaper new elsewhere, the chances of doing so are greatly reduced. Now the above is assuming you actually know what it is youre thinking of selling. Dont laugh, with the amount of miniatures that have been produced over the years this can be trickier than you think. That job lot you got in exchange for your Skaven War band at the after show drinks at the Wamped show two years ago. You thought they looked like Tyranids, but now youre not so sure. Well my advice is start searching through the internet until youre sure what they are. There are plenty of good reference sites now, and many knowledgeable people on forums who are only too happy to help identify your mysteriously shaped pieces of lead. It could turn out your supposed Tyranids are actually Kyromek and are still in production. Lots of people want Tyranids, not so many Kyromek warriors.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

club and be able to trade them with fellow players for things they might have. You might also be able to get cash for your miniatures, and know theyve gone to a good home. Secondly, you can always approach a dealer. These are usually online, and advertise that they buy and sell secondhand gaming items. Here there are both good and bad points to consider. Remember the dealer is buying to make money from your items, so he cant offer you a retail rate. You may get about half the amount youd get selling privately yourself. However on the plus side, you have no outlay, little to do, and the money gets to you quickly from a single source. Selling on eBay can give the best returns, but does require more work on behalf of the seller, and can be more risky.

Without doubt eBay is the greatest miniature selling arena on the internet. Strangely enough I spend quite a bit of my time on there looking for interesting pieces to add to the shops inventory. Ive therefore studied the ways different sellers go about things. To gain the maximum value from your collection, or price per miniature ( PPM ) it can pay to list every item separately. This has the advantage of discouraging the bulk lot bidders, while allowing each miniature to realise its full selling potential. For rare single items this is always the best way to go. Unfortunately the downside is threefold. Firstly it takes more time, and more initial outlay to list your excess lead this way. Secondly, not everything will sell so youll be left with the items no-one wants. Lastly, its an awful lot of packing. The next route is to divide what you are selling into lots of say five miniatures, and then list these. If youve done your research youll have an idea what miniatures are more likely to sell, so you can add one or two of these to a few that are less likely too. The desirable miniatures will help lift the overall price. Done well this can be very effective with a good PPM return. Its also less packing and listing. However get the starting price too low, and if you only get a couple of bids, then it works against you. Lastly is the bung it all on in one heap approach. Make a pile on the kitchen table, take a picture and list. Auctions like this are easy for the seller, but can be a nightmare for the buyer. Clearly its very difficult to see what youre going to get, or the condition its going to be in. A little order and a few more pictures here really do help. However is not a great way to get a good PPM. For the sake of argument say person X is listing 100 metal citadel miniatures. Hes grouped them into a few nice photographs and started the listing at 25.00. Its most likely this will net him bids of over 100 as the listing progresses, or 1.00 per miniature. However to get to 2.00 per miniature the total bid has to break the 200.00 barrier, and thats less likely. Plus eBay will take its cut at the end of the auction. Contrast this to selling one at a time where any miniatures that sell might make 4-5 each. In conclusion, selling your unwanted miniatures really depends on what you want. For quick money, talk either to a dealer, or list a job lot on eBay. If you want more, and have the time, list in smaller lots, or even singularly. Remember eBay charges a listing fee dependent on how high the starting price is, and also a final valuation fee depending on what the final auction total is. Start low and hope it rises or price high and hope it sells?

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TUTORIAL

Gore-Rot Shadow Goblin Assassin Step by Step

Hello once again! It has been some time since my last step by step. Last winter I painted up a great little miniature from Mannequin Miniatures, a goblin assassin named Gore-Rot. Here is a detailed step by step of how I painted him up.
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by Sean Fulton (Jabberwocky)

I initially began with a gray primer and took a photo with a single bright light directly overhead and very close to the miniature to give myself a reference on where to place shadows and highlights:

TUTORIAL
Skin, Eyes and Nails I wanted to go with something a bit different than the typical warm green seen with most goblins, although I didnt want to stray too far. I decided on a cooler blue-green and also decided to go slightly more desaturated with him since I had not done that previously. The skin was based with RMS Jungle Moss, then lined with RMS Brown Liner. Highland Moss was added to the Jungle Moss up to pure Highland Moss and then progressive amounts of RMS Pale Lichen were mixed in to the Highland Moss. Finally RMS Bloodless Skin was added to the Pale Lichen for the brightest highlights. Finally, I glazed a bit of VMC Deep Yellow to provide some additional color contrast to the face and brightest highlights.

The eyes were based with Linen White, then covered with Deep Yellow. The iris was Brown Liner, with a light reflection point of pure white. Finally, the edges were glazed very lightly with VMC black red.

I decided at this point to add some visual interest by coloring the ears and doing a bit of complementary shading. The ears were base glazed with VMC Black Red once again as were the shadow creases of the nasolabial folds of the face and on the hands. Finally, the nails and teeth were done with VMC Ivory and then progressively shaded with RMS Stained Ivory and RMS Russet Brown. The shirt was the next on the list; I wanted a lighter contrast to the skin and something that I could dirty up a bit at the end. The shirt was based once again with VMC Ivory, then shaded progressively with RMS Yellowed Bone and Russet Brown. I reintroduced some highlighting with RMS Linen White (not pictured in the next series of pics, but you can see it in the following series with the pants).

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TUTORIAL
I elected to go with a desaturated purple f or the pants to contrast with the green skintone. It was based with RMS Faded Purple, then shaded with Dusky Grape, followed by Dusky Grape and Brown liner for the deepest shadows. The Faded Purple was subsequently highlighted with a progressive mixture of RMS Snow Shadow. The pinstripes were accomplished with thinned lines of RMS Yellowed Bone.

Accessories The various accessories were painted next. The gemstones were done in the well described fashion. The basecoat was place first with VMC Black Red. The lower portion of the gems was progressively highlighted with Reaper Pro Paint Bright Red, VMC Deep Orange, and RPP Sunlight Yellow along the lower edge of the gem. At the top of the gem, in the portion kept the darkest, a light reflection point was placed with pure white. The leather portions (wrist band, belt, and dagger sheaths) were done with Russet Brown, shaded with RMS Blue Liner, and highlighted with RMS Driftwood Brown and Driftwood Brown/ Linen White for the brightest highlights. The dagger handles were done with VMC Mahogany Brown and shaded with Blue Liner. Cape and Boots The cape was basecoated with VMC Gray Green, a nice dark gray. It was then shaded with Black along with Blue Liner in the deepest recesses. I then added progressive amounts of RMS Rosy Shadow to the Gray Green to get a progressively light shade of gray. It is important to be sparing in the highlights, otherwise you may push the area from black to gray. As a general rule of thumb with black (or any color really), the color that dominates 50% of the area is what the brain will see the color as. I tried to keep the majority of the cape a very dark gray with a large portion of black to maintain the blackness. Too much highlighting and it will register as gray. 16
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TUTORIAL
The Metallics Both the gold and steel metallic were achieved with a technique I refer to as shaded metallics inspired by the master Sebastian Archer (Automaton at CMoN). The steel was undercoated with black, based with VMC Gunmetal, shaded initially with GW Devlan Mud, then pure black in the deepest recesses. The Gunmetal was reintroduced sparingly followed by spot highlights with VMC Silver. The golds were undercoated with VMC Mahogany Brown (the photo shows it on the dagger sheaths, but I snapped the pic too early on the sword handles) followed by GW Shining Gold for the basecoat. I then shaded progressively with VMC Smoke and Leviathan Purple. The Shining Gold was reapplied with spot highlights of Shining Gold and VMC Metallic Medium.

Weathering At this point, Gorerot is much too clean. Goblins are dirty creatures and assassination is a dirty business. First off, I needed to rust up the blade quite a bit. This was done incrementally by applying RMS Dark Skin in an irregular pattern over the blades. RMS Rust Brown was then put only irregularly, but over a smaller surface. RMS Clear Orange was applied sparingly, followed by a VMC Smoke was to tone it all down a bit. I added some scratches to the blades with VMC Metallic Medium and pure black for some additional visual interest.

Weathering on the tunic and boots was done with MIG pigments Dry Mud and Dark Mud and well as some very thin VMC Flat Earth. The blood stains/splatters were done with Tamiya Clear Red and black mixed together. At this point, I opted to add some additional reds to the face. The nose and lower lip were done with RMS Deep Red and Reaper High Density Entrail Pink. I then added a bit of Highland Moss to the mixture to ease the transition between the reds and the surrounding skin tones.

Basework As Gorerot is a sophisticated urban goblin, I wanted to go with a city style base and chose the Microarts Studio cobblestone base. The base was primered entirely in black. The RMS Stone Colors Triad was applied, started with the darkest shade Shadowed Stone followed by Stone Gray and Weathered Stone.

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TUTORIAL
Some variety to the stones were accomplished with a selective washing of the Secret Weapon Armor Wash, followed by RMS Jungle Moss to tie the base to the model, both of which had this particular shade of green. Final highlights were picked out with RMS Leather White. The manhole cover was done similarly to the swords, with a black undercoat, Gunmetal, the Secret Weapon Armor Wash (because it was on my palette; Devlan Mud would work just as well) and finally Silver. The rust was again done with RMS Dark Skin, Rust Brown, and very small amounts of Clear Orange around the rivets.It came off a bit too bright, so the whole cover was washed with VMC Smoke to tone it down. Finally, I added a few scratches and bright highlights with VMC Metallic Medium.

Final touchups As this was a competition piece, I decided to up the ante and do some additional weathering on the cape as well as a bit of freehand. The freehand was a simple line drawn on the hood and bottom of the cloak done initially with VMC Ivory. This color was chosen because it provides good coverage over black and to offer an easier base over which to paint the reds. The reds were done with RMS Blood Red, then highlighted with very thin RMS Clear Red. The recessed portions of the freehand were shaded with thin passes of black to darken the color. The Dark Mud/Dry Mud/Flat Earth combo was applied along the base of the cape over the freehand. I hope you found this useful! Jabber 18
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CONTEST

Its back!! One of our longest running and well liked contests is here. Red Box Games is run by one of our own WAMPERS Tre Manor and hes a great bloke with fantastic talent so theres even more reason to support this contest. And just in case that wasnt enough Red Box have laid on some fine prizes to tempt you further.Who wouldnt want lots of free RBG stuff!
Prizes 1st - $100 Red Box Games credit 2nd - $75 credit 3rd $50 credit Rules (please read them!!) You must be a Wamp Member to participate. Membership is free and you may register here. You may enter as many times as you like but each entry may only submit one photograph so if you need more angles it MUST be a montage. Images must be no larger than 1000 pixels wide by 3500 pixels high. (It is your responsibility to check this). Any additional photographs of that entry will be removed. You give Wamp and Red Box Games permission to use your pictures for publicity (but you do retain ownership). You may post pictures of WIP or final shots both here and elsewhere. Judging will be decided by public vote. Submissions must be posted to the Contest Gallery You must make sure you select the correct contest option in the contest select box either during upload (if using the basic uploader) or via edit pictures after upload RedBox Games produce some cracking miniatures and more on them can be found here: www.red-box-games.com/ Now get painting! Deadline

24th January 2013 (4pm GMT) (Supporters Deadline - 31st January 2013 (4pm GMT))

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REVIEW

If you have a product you would like us to review then contact us at reviews@wampforum.com

by Cregan Tur
Manufacturer Haradelan Questers Material Price Contact www.dgsgames.com Other Information Ratings Very good level of detail. Hair is sculpted very well.. Flash and slag is present in small amounts- easy to remove, but occasionally at join sites. l Very reasonable price for a good number of figures.
Metal 31.99

Haradelan Questers

Quality Assembly

8.5

DGS Games is a company I had never heard of until a friend brought me back a pack of their miniatures from GenCon.
They are best known for their fantasy skirmish game Freeblades and I will be taking a look at the Haradelan Questers starter set. This starter set contains 7 miniatures that are cast in metal. They are 32mm scale and each figure comes with a standard plastic slotted base. Only two of these figures are single piece castings. The rest are 2 or 3 pieces- generally a weapon and possibly a shield. The Haradelan are a pretty heavily armoured group consisting of 5 knights with various weapons, an archer, and a militiaman with a wheat thresher. The High Questor seems to be the leader of this little band. Hes the knight who is standing with one foot on a rock and holding his sword aloft with his shield held before him. He is wearing a surcoat over plate armour and has a

circlet around his forehead. He comes in 3 parts: body, right forearm with sword, and his shield. His sword was a little bent, but it was easy to get it back in place. The mold lines are nothing to worry about except for where it crosses the left side of the face. Thankfully it is between the left eye and ear, so its not harming any of the facial details. The arm and shield are easy to attach thanks to locating plugs that work. The Fist of Vidunar is a pretty standard fantasy cleric- guy in armour with a big hammer who has magical powers from his god. Hes a single piece casting of a bald, bearded man hefting a large hammer with a fist shaped head over his head. The beard has some good detailing in it, but it might be a little difficult to paint because of the way things are positioned. It looks like theres a little bit of flash between the hammer and his head, but its something that would take a lot of patience to cleanly remove. The hammers neck was bent enough that getting it back into position was tricky. It looks pretty good, but Im still thinking about cutting it away and replacing it with a bit of brass rod. His cape has a nice little flow to it. The Militia Spearman is lightly armoured with chainmail and a coif covering his head and is in a running stance with the spear levelled at his side and shield tight against his chest for protection. He comes in 3 parts: body, right hand with spear,

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Value

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If you have a product you would like us to review then contact us at reviews@wampforum.com Ratings

REVIEW

and shield. The spear has a nice wood grain texture and wasnt bent that I noticed. Attaching the spear took a little work because of some slag where it is supposed to connect to the body. A little file work easily removed it. The chainmail texture has been done differently than Ive ever seen before. It gives the appearance of a finer mesh of chainmail, but the presentation also isnt as clean or clear as other methods of sculpting chainmail. I havent has a chance to put paint on this guy yet to see how it looks, so Im reserving judgment. A little bit of flash on this piece and a mold line on the left side of the face that is marring some of the detail. The Muster Archer reminds me of Robin Hood. Hes wearing a tunic, quiver, and his bow was in good shape partly because of the gate that holds the bottom part in place. The gate is easy to remove and the mold lines on this piece barely deserve comment except for the fact that it crosses directly over the right eye. A few little details like a patch on his left elbow and a nicely detailed goatee are also noticeable on this piece. The Apprentice Knight of Barek is the guy in plate mail holding the giant axe. He is in 2 parts: the body and the axe which also includes both of his hands on the haft. There are a number of details on his armour and the scabbarded sword on his back that make him one of the more interesting looking figures in the group. His face is thankfully free of any problems. Getting the axe into position for assembly is a little tricky and you may need a bit of green stuff to fill a tiny gap between his hand and arm after you get it glued into place. The Apprentice Knight of Tahnar had me stumped for a few minutes until I looked her up on the website where they confirmed that she is female. The page boy haircut and the way the armour plates are formed over his chest pointed to her being a female, but its so rare to see a female knight wearing full armour or who isnt exposing her cleavage or other parts that my confusion is understandable. The face has a lot of feminine qualities as well. She comes in 3 parts: body, right arm with sword, and left arm with shield. Everything fits into place easily with very little prep work. Her armour is very nicely detailed as is her hair, which has very fine stranding. She is probably one of

the best examples of a realistic female knight that I have ever seen. Last, we have the Muster Thresher who looks like a farmer who just rushed into battle with his wheat thresher. He comes in 2 parts: Body and thresher which connects the left hand and right forearm. Once I removed a little bit of slag from the locating plug on the right forearm, I was able to get it to fit easily. All of these miniatures have a heavy nostalgia about the sculpts. They really remind me of old Ral Partha and Grenadier miniatures, but the details are crisper on these figures. Every suit of armour has rivets covering it at different places and a number of other details that wouldnt have been as cleanly presented or may not have existed at all on those older lines. All of the hair is sculpted much better than it was in the past. I was also impressed by the shields. Each one is a similar shape, but each one has a different pattern of gouges and scrapes on them, making them look battle worn. But even with the good aspects of this kind of metal nostalgia, there are also some of the same drawbacks that other manufacturers have been improving on over the years. The spearman is the most dynamic figure of the series because of his running pose, but all of the others are pretty static. This doesnt mean they are bad- they are all well sculpted figures, but there are similar characters from other companies that have more movement and character in their sculpts. On the other hand, the level of detail and quality of these pieces is a cut above some other pieces that are more dynamic with less detail. Painting these pieces would a fun trip to the past for those who are fans of the classic miniature lines to which these figures bear some similarities, but people new to the hobby will also find them to be easy to paint. Each piece has some texture differences between metal and cloth along with some skin and hair to be painted as well. The surcoats on the figures that have them are nice open spaces for freehanding. The girls shield has an emblem sculpted in place, but the other two would also be good candidates for some freehand as well. It would be easy to cut away the tabs for the slotted bases if you want to do something custom.

Quality: 8 / 10, very good level of detail. Hair is sculpted very well. Most of the figures are pretty static. Assembly: 8 / 10, mould lines across facial details on some figures means youll need to be careful. Flash and slag is present in small amounts- easy to remove, but occasionally at join sites. Value: 8.5 / 10, very reasonable price for a good number of figures. Overall: 8.2 / 10, if you want some fantasy figures that are more historically accurate, then the Haradelan Questers are a good choice. The design work is very solid on all of these miniatures and they have the added bonus of nostalgia for anyone who is a fan of the older style miniatures. This is a company you should definitely check out.

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IN THE BOX
A little about me, my name is Jake Cannon and Ive been a gamer all my life. Learnt with parents as a child but as so many people do I went to University and found a games society, after that I never looked back. Ill give any game a go twice and enjoy playing games of all genres and themes and really enjoy coming up with variants for games. I work for Stormfire games which is based in Cardiff where I spend my days running the website and teaching people to play games. If you ever find yourselves in Cardiff please feel free to pop by the store otherwise you can find us at www.stormfiregames.co.uk

Last Night is a semi co-operative zombie game centred around the desperate survivors trying to complete their missions whilst the zombie player sends wave after wave of shambling minions to stop you.
The core aspect of the game revolves around the players trying to fend off the zombie horde whilst tooling up with whatever they can find. Teamwork is essential as finding oneself alone and surrounded by the undead will quickly lead to being overwhelmed and eaten. Overview The game starts off by the players choosing one of the many scenarios, either between themselves or at random. They range from simple introductory scenarios aimed around killing zombies or surviving until dawn to a multitude of film reference ones such as find the gasoline and the keys to the truck to escape or defend the mansion. Over the course of the game a never ending army of the undead will spawn and slowly shamble across town pinning the heroes in a corner and eventually forcing them to fight. The heroes will use whatever weapons they can to slow down the undead and punch holes in the zombie lines to run through and escape the rotting flesh net as it slowly but surely encloses the players. Now thats the plan for the heroes, as expected it wont go perfectly to plan with the zombies armed with plenty of spanners to throw at even the best laid plans. 22
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Components The game comes with seven double sided game boards from which you will create a town centre. Each of the tiles has specific, named buildings on them most of which has special abilities. The base game comes with 8 detailed heroes each of which has a heavy cardstock character card that players will use to track health, special abilities and cards. This is where we come to the first unique aspect that separates Last Night on Earth and the other games made by Flying Frog Productions all of the imagery on the cards are photos not painted or 3D rendered images. This company dresses people up in costume and takes photos of them for every single image. When asked why the games designers said they wanted to create a gaming experience that would really feel like you are in a zombie

IN THE BOX

movie fighting for your life. Now this is something which I really like as it does add something to the game and sets it apart from other similar games in the genre. The fact that the actors and actresses who play some of the characters have been found at games conventions in costume so you can have your photo taken with them and with some of the characters being the usual stereotypes for a zombie film this has gone down very well with the players, Im looking at you farm-girl and shotgun wielding nurse.

Then we come to the most important component of the game, it comes with a soundtrack CD containing background music and groaning which feels like its straight out of a 50s B-movie, and is totally awesome. You dont need to use it but it adds and doubles as a great cd for Halloween parties. Gameplay The game board is superbly designed as the centre of town on one side or the grand mansion on the other. After selecting a mission and a side you choose from the selection of double sided L-shaped town districts that slot around the main game board. This adds a huge amount of replay ability as the town will set up differently every time and you cant always guarantee getting a gun shop every game. The heroes can take their turns in any order and this adds to the co-op aspect of the game. On a players turn they will roll a D6 to decide how far they can move in this turn. This leads to fantastic moments where you really need to leg it and you managed to slip and only be able to move 1 space. After a player rolls they can decide if they wish to move at all for if they choose not to move whilst inside a building you may search the building for loot, drawing cards from the deck or specific ones from the discard pile if the building has a special ability. For example the gun shop lets you pull used gun
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The fourteen Zombie miniatures are presented in two different colour plastics for if you want to run a team games and split the zombie forces between two players and are presented in a variety of poses which really helps to add to the feel of the game. And yes you can make them shamble so they look like they are in the thriller video, and yes it is awesome. The game also comes with 100 cards split into two decks, one for the zombies and one for the heroes as well as a deck for each side with advanced action cards. Each player will also get a double sided reference card describing the steps of the zombie turn on one side and the hero turn on the reverse which helps to keep the game as intended, a face moving and action packed adventure.

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IN THE BOX

cards from the discard pile whereas the hospital will allow you to pull used medi-kit cards back from the discard pile. This sounds simple, camp in the hospital and keep healing but those pesky zombies seem to know that the big white building is full of healing magic so they shamble off toward it and play lots of nasty cards to surprise the heroes. The Zombie turns are fairly simple, refill their hand of cards, roll to see if they are allowed to spawn more zombies. All their zombies move flat one space unless a card is used then they can move further.

After they move if they are in a space with a hero then they fight. Combat is simple high dice wins with items and cards granting extra dice or reroll abilities, the key element here is that if a zombie wins then they wound the hero but if a hero wins they simply fend off the zombie unless they also rolled doubles. This means you will fend of the zombies but killing them is hard and this is how they are able to constantly follow you around the board creating a tense atmosphere of impending doom. Do I run this turn or stay this turn and try to find the keys? What if the zombie shambles and moves three spaces? What if I try to run next turn only for the zombie player to play a card and make the door I try to escape through locked? The heroes are on a clock in all the missions and the number of players can affect the game length. The zombie player will usually be set a target number of kills to reach by the objective and if they succeed in killing a player that person will get a new character to play with meaning no-one is eliminated and sometimes you need to leave somebody behind for the greater good. The greater good being we all ran and you rolled a 1, bad luck, bye. Criticisms This can be a very hard game for the heroes with low player numbers and very hard for the zombies with high player numbers.

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IN THE BOX
that gets expensive. The base game is really good but the expansions are always great as the designers seem to read the forums and play with customers at conventions to find out what they really want. I Know its not a real problem but within 6 months of buying the base set I owned all the expansions and loved it. You have been warned. Conclusions What makes this game great? The overall feel, the minis, the tactical decisions, the surprise as your perfect plan is eaten by zombies. Its all great .If you like games where you will work as a team but against a real enemy that will react to your plans and actions instead of a games with an A.I. deck that you can figure out how to beat then this is for you. The theme is a perfect fit and adds a lot to the mechanics of the game. The time frame is also great as the game will take between an hour and two hours to play and is fun to play no matter which side youre on. Overall I rate this as the best zombie game on the market and Ive played every one I can get my hands on.

There are a lot of dice rolls so if you hate an element of luck in your games this will probably grind your gears. My final criticism is a peculiar one as its easily fixed but bear with me. Out of the box this game is great but I found myself wanting more, wanting to be able to tweak certain rules to suit my play style. I put the house rule in that the survivors got to search each building once for free when they first explored it. This sped the game up and helped reduce the penalty from not starting with any weapons, which can happen if the police characters arent selected. I then found our group suggesting little changes here and there and eventually we played with someone at an event who owned the game and he said to us that we needed the latest expansion. I trusted this gaming stranger and grabbed growing hunger. What did I find? Rules for adding extra elements to the game including a points cost for the upgrades. My house rules was there free search costs three points, those three point s are then given to the zombie player to spend upgrading his zombies. My criticism is that the expansions are so good that once youve seen whats in them you must have them and

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all five models released december 1st, 2012

new KTH-GOR-0001 OpHiOs Gorgon of Khthon 34.99 new Ysn-KYs-3505 nunG Horn-Brute 16.99

new KTH-GOR-0002 sTHena Gorgr of Khthon 29.99

new BRY-GwY-3502 naeGannwG Tndyndraig of Gwaelod 29.99

new FMR-BlR-3503 uCQuRaan srnax warrior 24.99 KTH-GOR-3102 issiTHill agitator of Khthon 19.99 nOR-sFG-8601 BlOOd-Maw Vore 59.99

BRY-GwY-3503 GwYddOl dyndraig of Gwaelod 24.99

Ysn-KYs-0101 CaRROweK OF CaRn dHu war-drune on foot 12.99

KTH-KRO-8101 KadMasTaR ancient devourer 59.99

inF-dis-0101 KRull servile lord of dis 109.99 FMR-BlR-3502 QQOlaan skull-Bearer of the srnax 24.99

Ysn-KYs-2101 aRTHYen OF CaRn Maen ax-drune Champion 9.99

BRY-GwY-3504 ClundwR dyndraig of Gwaelod 24.99

all three models released January 5th, 2013

KTH-HYd-3101 HiRaKOTH pentarch of dron 29.99 anG-MRC-110 THelGlYTH warrior-Maiden of Mierce 9.99

KTH-GOR-3101 VilTHiss Champion of Khthon 19.99

FMR-BlR-0101 KRaan untain of Baalor 29.99 Mounted

BRY-GwY-8701 GYnROCH ap ROCH wocor of powys 59.99

Ysn-KYs-3503 uGGuRd Falx-Brute 19.99 FMR-BlR-1131 TundaaR skull-Bearer of Baalor 12.99

Ysn-KYs-1161 KeRnuOR seer-drune 10.99

BRY-GwY-8601 TYpHaGGaHw Gwyfern of Ceredigion 59.99

miniatures not shown to scale

see our full range of miniatures at mierce-miniatures.com

Mierce Miniatures is now the official manufacturer of all BaneLegions and Templars Forge products. Most BaneLegions miniatures have migrated to our forthcoming wargame, Darklands!

FMR-BlR-0102 KRaan untain of Baalor 10.99 Foot

MEET THE WAMPER

Real Name: Sean Fulton Alias: Jabberwocky Website: None at the moment (subject to change if I get the time) Wamp member since: 1/30/2009 Bio: I was born in Wichita, Kansas and lived near there throughout my childhood. I did some role playing in the original D&D world in junior high and high school, which introduced me to the miniature hobby. I attended a small college a few hours from Wichita and got my bachelors degree in biology. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to medical school at the University of Kansas and went on to do a residency in Emergency Medicine in Phoenix. I finished residency in 2000 and returned to Kansas City, where I have been ever since, working in one of our local emergency departments. I dont have nearly enough time to paint with work and 4 children, but I find it a nice get away from the hustle of everyday life. Paint, sculpt or game? Painter first, sculptor second (gap filling with greenstuff counts, right?), gamer a very, very distant third. Favourite mini company? Thats a tough one. So far, I have stuck primarily with the 28mm size. I have more Reaper miniatures than any other manufacturer, followed by Wyrd, but I do have a couple of the box sets from GW. My new favourite smaller company is Red Box Games. Tres lesser undead are amazing and I really like the troll brothers. I love the Dark Sword models as well. The larger scale models and busts have not been anything Ive done before, but I am hoping to give those a try just to broaden my horizons in the new year. Favourite sculpt? There are so many good ones out there but off the top of my head, Id say Red Box Games troll brothers. I really enjoy the steampunk line from Guild of Harmony as well. How long have you been in the hobby? I originally began painting in the mid 80s. My painting was pretty terrible and I was much more into the role playing aspect then. Painting was secondary. I took an extended break through college and medical school and finally returned to the hobby in 2001, where the internet opened my eyes to how the hobby has progressed and got me interested once again. I had lost contact with my gaming buddies, and didnt have any gamers in my immediate vicinity, so became much more focused on the painting. How often do you visit Wamp? Several times a day, much to my wifes chagrin... Quit surfing!. Best thing about Wamp? There is something new going on all the time! There are regulars that do some awesome and inspirational stuff and are so darn willing to share their secrets. I was brought back into the hobbies by the web and the WAMPERS and one of the reasons I keep coming back. Tell us something interesting about you? I was able to get one of the main characters in Wyrds Malifaux world named after my wife. Ill give you a hint... she enforces the law with an iron fist and shes not blind. Im a linguaphile and am familiar with 3 languages fairly well and know bits and pieces of 7 more. While that may not be particularly impressive for my European friends, for an American its not bad! 28
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Returning for its third year in a row, its time, once more for our famous end of year, multi-sponsor painting contest, WAMPED. The WAMPED contest is the best way to sign off the year and try and bag yourself a heap load of goodies in the process. Sponsors so far
Categories Fantasy: any number of miniatures up to 40mm size on a single display. Sci-Fi: any number of miniatures up to 40mm size on a single display. Historical : any number of miniatures up to 40mm size on a single display. Steampunk : any number of miniatures up to 40mm size on a single display. Large Scale: Anything over and including 40mm miniatures and busts regardless of genre. Well also have spot prizes for the most number of entries and best new comers. There will also be a Best in Show award which will be voted for separately and comprise of all the miniatures that placed 1st to 3rd in the above categories. The BOS Winner will have its own prize allocation as well as the prizes for winning a specific category. Contest Time Line This year the contest will run from 1st October until 6pm UK time on the Thursday 31st Jan 2013. WAMP subscribers get one extra week ending 6pm, UK time on Thursday 7th February 2013.

REVIEW

If you have a product you would like us to review then contact us at reviews@wampforum.com

by MaGie
Manufacturer Guild of Harmony Material Price Contact
guildofharmony.com

Maria Poppets and Albert

This review centrals around the two miniatures Maria Poppets and Albert, from the Guild of Harmony steampunk collection.
Following the well-known story, the two miniatures form a couple, and are sculpted as one fitting piece (several parts, mind you). This piece comes as a limited edition resin edition, though maybe in the future a metal version will also be released. One thing to mention is that I personally am a huge fan of this steampunk line and Sebastian Archers (owner and sculptor for Guild of Harmony) sculpting. I will, however, try to maintain a neutral view for this review :)

Resin AUD$34.95

Other Information Sculpted by Sebastian Archer Ratings High quality resin with incredible detail. Pieces fit well together, but requires some experience. Great translation of both the story and the steampunk genre. Quality Assembly Value

10

Maria Poppets and Albert are packed in separate plastic bundles, and come with a authenticity certificate, which includes the production number. Also included is a 25mm round base. Maria Poppets This miniature consists of several parts: the main body, a right arm (which is connected to Alberts left arm), a left hand with the holdfast of the umbrella, and two pieces for the umbrella. The pieces fit very well together; especially the umbrella design is very cleverly made. No premade pinning structures are there, likely because some of the pieces are very thin. Although the material is not heavy, I would add some pins when assembling this mini. The resin is very strong, non-bendy. I did not find any bubbles in the cast, and there are also no visible mold lines. Some flash can be found here and there, but a quick swipe with a toothbrush should get rid of that easily.

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If you have a product you would like us to review then contact us at reviews@wampforum.com Ratings

REVIEW

Quality: High quality resin with incredible detail. A unique piece, capturing a lovely story. Assembly: No air bubbles, little flash, but some work on Albert. Pieces fit well together, but requires some experience. Value: This deal comes with two highly detailed miniatures, made of the highest quality of resin. I think the price is absolutely more than worth it. Overall: What is not to like about this piece? Great translation of both the story and the steampunk genre. With this set you will get a lovely limited steampunk piece for your collection. I believe, with this piece, Guild of Harmony is, once again, setting a high standard for resin miniatures.

All the tiny details (of which there are plenty) are translated very crisply by the material. The edges remain sharp and no shape has been lost in the casting. I would say, for this figure, the cast quality is really superb. Albert This mini consists of three parts: the main body, the left hand (which is attached to Marias right arm) and the right hand holding some kind of tool (maybe to clean the chimney). The left leg of the miniature is attached to a chimney piece. Also for this piece I have not found any air bubbles, and very little flash. The only part that will need some fixing is the mold line on the back of the figure, which runs through to the chimney. The material is easy to file, so it shouldnt be too hard to get rid of the mold line. But some misscasting appeared with it on the chimney, which will require some filling with green stuff. For the other details, Albert is of the some quality as Maria. The whole piece Assembling the two miniatures should not be too difficult, but some pinning could help to strengthen the connections. I do think it will require some patience, and I would also not recommend it for people new to the hobby. The two miniatures are really meant to make one piece, and the poses of the two individuals makes for a quite dynamic piece. It is nice to see how well these characters from the story have translated into steampunk miniatures, whilst still retaining the look and feel of their origin. A good conversionist (for the lack of a better word) would be able to separate the two figures and use them in different pieces, if you would want to. The steampunk genre is mainly identified by mechanical parts, such as cogs and wheels. These miniatures are adorned with such pieces, but I don't think it's overdone. Every single detail is sculpted with careful attention, and really add to the feel of this piece.
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the UKs premier wargaming venue, open 10am-6pm all week!

visit Maunsfeld Gaming

Maunsfeld Gamings huge gaming hall, retail store and fully licensed bar and restaurant is the only independent venue you can visit to enjoy dedicated gaming events virtually every weekend of the year, from tournaments and hobby days to demonstrations and campaigns. As well as that, with our venue open to the public during the day and now on three nights a week Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, until 11pm we really are the place to go for gaming in the United Kingdom!

events at Maunsfeld Gaming

for more information visit www.maunsfeld-gaming.com Sat 17th Sun 18th November
Independent Epic UK tournament TICKET ONLY

Epic UK Grand Tournament Dreadball Demonstrations Blog Wars Epic Flails Grand Slam Winter Incursion Animosity Campaign Weekend Timmaaas 40k Christmas Bash

Sat 24th November

Mantic Entertainment Dreadball demo day

Sat 1st December

Independent Warhammer 40,000 Tournament TICKET ONLY

Sun 2nd December

Independent Hordes and Warmachine Tournament TICKET ONLY

Sat 8th Sun 9th December

Maunsfeld Gaming Warhammer Fantasy tournament TICKET ONLY

Sat 15th Sun 16th December

Independent Warhammer 40,000 tournament TICKET ONLY

Sat 15th Sun 16th December

Independent Warhammer 40,000 tournament TICKET ONLY

every Tuesday & Thursday night, 6-11pm

is wargames night! All wargaming systems welcome.

www.maunsfeld-gaming.com

Maunsfeld Gaming Matlock Mill | Hamilton Way | Mansfield | Notts | NG18 5BU contact@maunsfeld-gaming.com

The Wamp awards return for their third year as we offer recognition to outstanding contributions to our hobby. This is your chance to nominate people,companies and miniatures you feel push Miniature Painting forward.
This year sees a little jiggle of the categories with the expansion of some sections. The first stage will be nominations which are open to all. So if theres something or someone you think deserving then put them forward. Once nominations are in then a short-list for each category will be announced. Voting on the short lists will then open and the top three form each category will be chosen. The categories are as follows: Best Fantasy Miniature Best Sci-Fi Miniature Best Historical Miniature Best Steampunk Miniature (these 4 categories are for sculpts not painted versions) Best Painted Fantasy Best Painted Sci-Fi Best Painted Historical Best Painted Steampunk (this includes dioramas, scratchbuild,etc) Best Miniature Company Best New Miniature Company Best Range Best Product Best Event Best Publication Best Blog

All categories (except genre specific awards) are open to any genre, scale or product type as long as its related to miniature painting. Nominations will remain open until 4pm Friday 30h November 2012 (GMT) You may nominate up to 10 nominees per category You must send your nominations to Nominations Try where possible to include a link to images for sculpts,and painted miniatures The short lists will be announced in early December Anonymous voting by poll will then commence until 14th December 2011 You must be registered on Wamp to vote You may not nominate your self or your own product,company,event or miniature. In the event of a tie Judges will decide a final winner for said category All nominations must be for active products or events from 2012
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LATEST RELEASES
Al Capone Steelarm

SKARGH Orc Fury

JEDEDIAH SMITH 1799-1931

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LATEST RELEASES

Ronin Raen of Rannoch, Giant Hunter Zara Craft

Goblin Bust
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LATEST RELEASES

Gronk War Elephant Down

Batman 36

Harley Quinn

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LATEST RELEASES

Sthena, Gorgr of Khthon

Naegannwg, Tndyndraig of Gwaelod

Ucquraan, Warrior of the Srnax

nung, horn-brute Ophios, Gorgon of Khthon

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REVIEW

If you have a product you would like us to review then contact us at reviews@wampforum.com

by MaGie
Manufacturer Reaper Miniatures Material
Polymer Plastic & Metal Metal: $4.99 Bones: $2.49

Reaper Miniatures Bugbear

Price

Contact
www.modeldisplayproducts.co.uk

Other Information Ratings See Side Panel

During their immensely successful Kickstarter project (Help us dig up all of the bones!), Reaper got a huge amount of attention for their new miniatures line, Bones.
Miniatures of this line are made of a polymer plastic that is supposed to be easier to use as it allows gamers and painters to skip priming and start painting immediately after taking the mini out of the blister package. In addition to that, the prices are much lower than the prices of the metal range. In this review we will take a look at a Reaper miniature that is currently available in both the Bones line and in the P-65 Heavy Metal line (minis cast in a lead based alloy). The miniature is the Bugbear Warrior sculpted by Tre Manor. So, lets find out if Bones miniatures are as great as Reaper claims by making a comparison between these two versions of the same model. Bugbear Warrior - Reaper Miniatures The sculpt The Bugbear is a large miniature sculpted on an integral base, and measures approximately 5cm tall, and has a number of interesting surfaces to play with including large skin areas with some fur, a highly detailed ferocious face, and large metal surfaces. Overall its a classic sculpt, with good proportions and a strong pose. Cast Quality Obviously in this aspect, the two materials 38
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If you have a product you would like us to review then contact us at reviews@wampforum.com Assembly & prep The metal miniature requires the shield to be glued into place and some general clean-up of the sculpt. The Bones sculpt requires little clean-up and no assembly. But, for some strange reason, the head seems to have been a separate piece which was glued on in the Reaper factory. Basically this means that there is a strong gap between the neck and torso which will require green stuff. And because this area covers fur, it also needs to be sculpted to match. I really dont understand why the head is glued on, because it was one piece on the metal miniature. Ratings

REVIEW

differ a lot. The metal miniature has strong details, with the face as a highlight which shows many small sculpted details such as wrinkles and folds. Prepping on this model will be quite intense as it has some strong mold lines on both sides of the mini and little flash at some areas. These do not obscure any important details, however. The mini also requires extensive sanding as some areas of the skin appear to be a little rough.

Quality: Bones: 8/10, Metal: 8.5/10 Nice traditional sculpt, great for Role Playing gamers but will also look great on dioramas. The Bones mini has good details and smooth surface areas, but details on metal version are slightly better. Assembly: Bones: 7/10, no assembly needed. Green stuff required and some clean-up is necessary. Metal: 7/10, requires little assembly, but some major mold lines need to be removed. Value: Bones: 10/10, great value for money. Metal: 8/10, although twice the price of Bones, it is still a good deal for a big chunk of metal. Overall: Bones: 8.5/10, Metal: 8/10 A good looking classic model with a wonderfully small price tag! Is the Bones version better than the metal counterpart? I would say its comparable. Both have their weaknesses and strengths. Considering the price difference the Bones version has my preference as it is simply a good miniature.

The Bones counterpart also contains many strong details, especially on the leather belt and the metal armor. The studs on the leather (on boots and arm) are actually much better cast in Bones than in metal. The face, however, has less detail but still looks quite decent. Funnily enough it does looks quite different from the metal miniature as the fur is also not as sharp as on the metal miniature. There are no mold lines on the side of the miniature, only some small ones on the bags at the back. The Bones material is very light and when you apply a little force it bends. After removing the force, however, it bends right back in place

Is Reaper right in saying you can paint this mini straight from the blister? Well, I disagree. Maybe for gamers who are in need of some enemy miniature this is ok, but if you want to paint this mini as a display piece it will require some prep time. Also, I would not recommend skipping the priming of the miniature as Reaper suggests. The Bones plastic is quite smooth and glossy and paint does not adhere to that properly enough. I have tried base coating the mini without priming it, and it will work with undiluted paint straight from the pot, but diluted paint pools on the smooth surfaces. As using undiluted paint is not an option for most painters, I strongly advise that you prime it first. And honestly, priming does not take that much effort, so you had better do it anyway! On both materials the weapon is bent. For the metal miniature this requires some patience to put it back in place. The material is very hard, and of course bending it too much too fast will break it. The Bones material can be easily bent to the right position by heating it under warm water. So, is the Bones version of this miniature an improvement?

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TUTORIAL

Awesome Terrain
by Marko Paunovic (aka Demonn)
In this article, well go through two simple examples of buildings for which you do not need much time or materials (and consequently money). With a little care and attention these pieces of terrain can be a very interesting solution for your gaming table.
Small village house with a barn First is an example of a small village house with a barn (figure 1). Here we will not explain the basing of the terrain or how to texture it since we mastered that part earlier. To create these buildings 10 x 25cm of 4mm or 5mm thick balsa wood is needed and 10 x 25cm of 1.5mm balsa wood for making roof. There will be enough thin balsa for all the details that go on the terrain (windows, doors, etc.).

Connect the walls as in figure 3. Once the walls are in place, paste the roof (made of thin balsa) and glue the roof tiles with PVA glue. Texture all parts of the building that are not wooden, paste windows, doors and any other decorations you want and thus making the building part of your new terrain complete. The only thing left to do is to paint and flock it (as described in the previous article). If you wish, you can add a fence at your own discretion.

First draw on the thicker balsa all the walls as shown in Figure 2. and cut the necessary parts. Repeat the same process for roofing, but on the thinner balsa (figure 2). Then, on the walls of the barn (Parts 5 and 6) and on the upper parts of the walls 1 and 2 draw parallel lines with a pen to press the boards about every 5mm (as previously done on the windows and doors) to make an appearance of wooden boards. 40
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TUTORIAL
Tower house Next example is a tower house. All you need is a piece of 32,5 x10cm of 5mm thick balsa wood for walls and 10x15cm of 1,5mm thick balsa wood for the roof and woodwork. As with the first example, draw on the thicker balsa all the walls and cut it accordingly (Figure 4.).

The walls 5, 6, 7 and 8 are supposed to be made out of wooden beams while the other walls will have plaster on it. In order to make the wooden walls use a pen as described in the previous example. The wooden boards need to be horizontal. If you are not sure of the direction of the boards, first connect the entire building (Figure 5.) Then press in the beams.

For making these two examples you need: High density styrofoam 2cm thickness, 30x30cm Balsa wood 4mm or 5mm thickness, 10x25cm / 10x32,5cm Balsa wood 1,5mm thickness, 10x25mm / 10x15mm Card, around 25x25cm / 15x15cm Slate of cork 2mm thickness, 10x10cm Other models of manufacturing processes are the same as in the previous examples, so therefore your terrain should look like: Sand, 2 types of various sizes (one of them sand for chinchillas) Various flocks, static grass (various length), Iceland moss, ground sponge, model trees PVA glue Superglue Clay (DAS recommended) or wooden slats for fences Addition Take a look at the notes on the figure 6! For exercise you can make the frame of the wings of the windmill from a 5x5mm slat of wood and glue it to one of the upper walls of the tower. There are various types of flock (Figure 8.). Some are natural (such as twigs, seeds, plants or moss and even various kinds of stones such as slate) and can be found in nature, while others are artificial (like a sponge, static grass, fibers, etc.) and have to be bought.

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TUTORIAL

DIY sedge There is no set rule in how and to what degree to use the flock. What one should pay attention to is the time of year (if its winter, then there is not much green vegetation except evergreen, etc.), geographic location (if making desert terrain there will be no trees, snow or a lot of greens ...), but one should also pay attention to the colors you use - not to mix too much various coloration and that the colours used do not clash with one another. The following are the examples of harmonious flocking and some of the techniques in handmade flock and vegetation making: Sedge is made ??in the following way: put a little superglue on the head of a pin and plunge it into the sand. Then take a piece of paper and paint it green. Cut thin sheets out of it. Then paint the stalk of the sedge and attach the leaves with PVA glue. When everything is dry, just thrust it into your terrain and put a little PVA glue to cement it.

DIY Lilly pads Lilies are made of two-component modeling mass (aka green/grey stuff) or, if not available, one can also use DAS clay. First model a discus (3-5mm diameter) and cut out one slice. Paint it green and perhaps add a flower (which is also made out of paper). Push a pin through the middle of the lilly pad and use the same method of attaching it to your terrain as in sedge. Ice is most easily obtained using PVA glue. First paint your water surface (or make it from resin or otherwise ? more about this in a later article). Then pour the PVA glue to make a layer about 2-3mm thick. Allow to become almost translucent and apply another one, this time a very thin layer PVA glue and let everything dry (preferably overnight). Reed / bulrush 42
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TUTORIAL

Ice surface

Slate Slate is very nice addition to your terrain. It gives a faithful replica of the stone structure both painted and unpainted (just wash the dirt away as it can prevent the glue from sticking to the stone). More about this in another article. When you are making cliffs, keep in mind that there are remnants of the erosion at the foot of the cliff ranging from large boulders to tiny pieces. Such attention to detail, gives a particular charm of a terrain piece. In general, the details are what differentiates a highquality terrain/diorama from an average one. Moss Particularly effective detail on the walls of old houses or ruins is the moss. An easy way to show moss is ground sponge in various green and even brown tones. Also it serves especially well in concealing various irregularities occurred during the development of models (such as the hole in the wall from rough cutting, sloppy paintjob etc.). And finally there are some details left in the nature by man, such as weapons, bags, impromptu fireplaces, etc. Details

Foot of the cliff

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WIKI
Follow Mini Painting Wiki on

WAMP Forums Mini Painting Wiki is an invaluable source of information about the hobby of miniature figurine painting.
Conversion Conversion is the term given to the process of changing the structure of a miniature. This is typically done be removing a part of the mini such as a head or arm and replacing with an alternative option. More elaborate conversion can include using multiple miniatures or kits to create something that doesnt resemble any of the originals. Some conversions involve sculpting new additions. White metal White metal is a term applied to a variety of light coloured alloys, including lead or tin based alloys used to make a variety of objects including miniatures and model parts. For miniatures the metals that make up the white metal alloy are mixed to achieve good flow characteristics and to hold fine detail, as well as to operate at the temperature at which they are cast. Most white metal alloys used in miniature manufacture contain Lead or Tin, to provide malleability, as well as Copper and Antimony, to act as hardeners. Alloys may also include Zinc as well as Magnesium to control the surface finish of the miniature. To ensure that castings are accurate reproductions of the original over many cycles of mold use the alloy must be usable at low temperatures. It must also have slow solidification and low viscosity and give a uniform and unrestricted flow. Higher temperatures cause greater and more rapid mold degradation and the flow characteristics of the alloy have a large effect on the quality and finish of the miniature. Originally the white metal alloys used in miniature manufacture contained a high proportion of lead, because of its softness and its ability to hold detail well. However at certain exposure levels lead is toxic if ingested, particularly for children, and so from the 1980s companies have increasingly been removing lead from the alloys used in casting. However lead is still used by some manufacturers and can still be present in older miniatures, those containing no lead are certified as lead free. The alloys used in most modern miniatures contain a high proportion of tin instead of lead. Many companies now use lead free alloys in casting metal miniatures, Citadel Miniatures for example use an alloy composed of Tin, Antimony, Bismuth and Copper. 44
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Hard styrene Hard styrene, or more properly hard polystyrene, is often referred to by miniature hobbyists as plastic. It is manufactured from petroleum and therefore increases in the price of oil can have an effect on the price of products made from hard styrene, such as miniatures. It is solid at room temperature but flows if heated enabling it to be moulded, extruded or cast into moulds. It holds detail well and produces a good finish allowing more sculpted detail to be retained than softer plastics. Hard styrene can be filed, sanded and drilled cleanly, unlike softer plastic models which tend to fray when worked in this manner, making it easier to clean models prior to assembly. Parts made of hard styrene can be glued to each other using polystyrene cement which creates a very strong bond by, in effect, welding the two surfaces together. It can be glued to other materials using a cyanoacrylate adhesive or Cyanoacrylate | superglue]] type. The ease with which hard styrene can be worked makes it a good material for modellers and those who like to convert their miniatures and models. The materials rigidity means that thin parts hold their shape very well, although very thin parts can be brittle and prone to breakage. Hard styrene has a high surface finish that, when primed, takes paint very well and assists in producing a smooth finish to the painting. Goblins Goblins are a fantasy type creature usually depicted as a smaller relative of Orcs. They are often depicted as gregarious creatures that live in large groups with a rudimentary social organisation. Mean willed and sneaky creatures they are usually shown as having the ability to create weapons and tools though they lack the intelligence of other humanoid creatures. As a staple of fantasy culture many miniature companies produce ranges of Goblins such as Games Workshop, Gamezone and Rackham

Click the title to go to the contest thread.

CURRENT CONTESTS

Its new competition time and this month we have the very greatest pleasure of announcing that its in conjunction with one of the hobbies giants, Reaper Miniatures
Reapers c at al o g u e of miniatures is extensive and there are plenty of themes to c h o o s e fr o m so we hope as many of you as possible enter and show Reaper why the WAMP comps are the best in the entire hobby.

Its contest time again and we welcome back a firm favourite, the much anticipated Kingdom Death. Yes, theyre back, back with the biggest single prize we offer in our Wamp Specials.

Deadlines
23rd December 2012 4pm (UK Time)
and for supporters

30th December 2012 4pm (UK time)

Prizes
The winner receives a copy of every new release from Kingdom Death for a whole year! AND, every person that enters will receive a $25 credit from Kingdom Death (1 per person) Last years winner by Iacton

Deadlines
4pm, UK time, 24th November 2012 for non-subscribers. 4pm, UK time, 31st November 2012 for subscribers

Prizes
1st place receives $75 Reaper credit. 2nd place receives $50 Reaper credit 3rd place receives $25 Reaper credit.

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REVIEW

If you have a product you would like us to review then contact us at reviews@wampforum.com

by Shane Rozzell
Manufacturer Stephan Simon Material Price Contact simonminiaturesculptor. blogspot.co.uk/ Other Information
Scale: 35mm Resin 16.00

Goliath The Collector

Ratings Quality

9.5 9.25

Casts are of excellent quality.

Assembly

Everything goes together very well. While not the cheapest miniature around, for the size and quality of the sculpt I still think this is a reasonable price.

Value

Its not very often I get to review a miniature sculpted and produced by a fellow WAMPER, so I was pretty excited to receive two miniatures from French sculptor SimonS, aka Stephan Simon.
The two miniatures that arrived were "Cannibal" the claws of Nightmare which Ill be reviewing in the next issue of Portal and Goliath the collector which Ill take a closer look at in this review. About the sculptor Simon started sculpting for Fenryll but got a 46
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real break when he entered Rackham in 2001 under the tutelage of Aragorn Marks and then later Mikh. He worked on a few armies including Acheron, Ophidians, and Devourers. His favourite Rackham pieces were The Molochs, S'erum, all the ophidians, and the apostate of Darkness as well as the semi elf devourers. Since Rackhams demise in 2010 he has sculpted freelance for a few companies including Eden and Mierce

If you have a product you would like us to review then contact us at reviews@wampforum.com Ratings

REVIEW

areas. Firstly, Goliath is a tad bigger than Ulric, which stands 40mm to the eyes. Goliath is also 40mm to the eyes but his stance is a leaning forward more, probably around 43mm if he was stood up straight. This extra bit of room has enabled Stephan to work his magic and the attention to detail is exceptional. For example, the chainmail, usually on miniatures this scale (and some much larger) this is sculpted with a pin or tiny hollow tube in a sweeping motion to create rows of Ss. On Goliath, Stephan has sculpted it using real interlocking chains. As his name indicates, Goliath is a collector. But a collector of what? Heads, and there are a few of these around his waist and on the spikes on his shoulder. Hes standing with his left foot raised on some rocks, wielding a huge double handed axe that, along with his hands, is a separate piece and the fit is excellent. This means its easy to paint the model with the axe/hands separate and fix them on when done. Also supplied are two more spikes that glue into his shoulder armour. These give the model a much more 3d feel to it. Unlike Ulric, Goliaths head isnt encased in bands of steel, just a mask covering most of his face giving him a gruesome, deathlike grimace and all the teeth are there to pick out with a fine brush. All of his muscles are well defined as is his armour. The Cast Goliath isnt cast using Polyurethane resin like most miniatures today, but instead is a green/grey resin thats harder. It does remind me of the resin Smartmax use so I know itll be good to work with, not that there is much work as the cast is very clean. There are some fine films of extra resin where the two halves of the mould meet and also two very fine mouldlines on his upper legs. I also noticed 2 of the tiniest of air holes under each wrist but, apart from that, Goliath is good to go. I can honestly see preparation time will be down to a minimum which is a good sign that the caster knows his business. Over all its an excellent cast and one Im eager to paint.

Quality: Stephan has done an excellent job not only in the sculpting but also ensuring the casts are of excellent quality. Assembly: everything goes together very well. Plugs are provided on all the joins so assembly is easy and straight forward: just some minor mould line removal and filling two very small air holes. Value for Money: 16 + 4 shipping is roughly 16 or $25. While not the cheapest miniature around, for the size and quality of the sculpt I still think this is a reasonable price. There are a lot more expensive Boutique miniature on release that are a lot more expensive and nowhere near the quality. Overall: Goliath the Collector is an excellent miniature that could be used as a stand out gaming piece or a model that will be really appreciated by the collector and display painter.

(there are obvious similarities to Ulric the Defiler, Autonomor, also sculpted by Simon). Recently he has decided to sculpt and cast his own range and Goliath is one of the first two offerings with a rather superb looking dual sword wielding Elf to follow soon. The miniature arrived well boxed and securely rolled in bubble wrap for extra protection. My first impression of Goliath is that hes huge! 54mm to the top of the upper shoulder spike. I know what youre all thinking Too big! But, this is a 35mm scaled miniature so for those of you who actually use you minis for gaming hed make an excellent character for your chaos armies; a nice baddy for your board game or RPG and for those of us who spend far too much time brush licking hes a proper painters miniature. Plenty of room for some nice freehand and just enough detail to grab the eye. He also comes tab-less which is a nice touch for those of us who want to make a nice display base for him to stand on. The Sculpt As I have mentioned above there are similarities to be drawn with Mierces Ulric the Defiler. Both are large brutes with scary masks carrying big double handed axes and, while I really like Ulric, I think Goliath pips him in a few

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GALLERY
The Spawning by Bad Fairy 2nd, 2012 Sodapop Mininatures Painting Contest.

Prefect Valeria by Century 3rd, 2012 Sodapop Mininatures Painting Contest.

Candy and Cola by Century

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GALLERY
Relic Knight Fighting Game by XUR Special WAMP Prize Winner

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GALLERY
Boo Booty by odinsgrandson Terra and Moogle by odinsgrandson

Zineda by XUR

Angry Bear by odinsgrandson

50

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GALLERY
Togan & Cecilia by Demonn Kisa & Scratch SE by machines are us

Kisa & GoLion by Sister_Lucy

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GALLERY
Ayu Beat - Punk Rock Colour Riot! by adary Its raining Candy and Cola by vegel

Candy and Cola by Jon Webb

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GALLERY
Aya Beat by orion2010p

PALADIN by bacasino Rex the Ogre by odinsgrandson

ANGRY PANDA by bacasino

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GALLERY
Starfire by bacasino untitled by virtualonmars

Sebastian by Sister_Lucy

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GALLERY
Calico Kate by Sister_Lucy RHA Quartermaster 1812-15 by trevis_11

Show us how big brother! by Sister_Lucy

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GALLERY
Dorothy by jason Nemetis by We7

Shark man by Sister_Lucy

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GALLERY
Leonidas by ARBAL Dark Vlad by Corvus

Calgar by We7

Privateer Press Woldwrathby adary

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By Scott Radom
ini painting has done a lot for me personally. I thoroughly now enjoy the long hours spent on putting a mini from blister pack to all finished and blasted with dullcote. In learning to paint a mini to a standard above what I used to put on the wargaming tables I found that a simple rule was the longer it took to do something the better the end result would be. So it really stepped on my tits when I found out that people out there were putting minis WAY nicer than my work in a small, small fraction of the time I take to finish a mini. For my own fragile egos sake I was always ready to look at any mini painted to a beautiful standard and think WOW! Thats impressive! I betcha it took about 120 hours to paint that mutha up! And now I find people have in fact been cheating the whole time. Some people are taking shortcuts to finish their minis and I dont think this is fair at all. Ive always really liked the box art paintjobs on the Hell Dorado minis. Theyre some of the most interesting sculpts out there and the guy who has done most (I think) of the work for the studio is a guy named Thomas David. A little while ago I bought the Miniature Mentor tutorial he does on speed painting and found out he spends as little as 5 hours on some of these stunning paint jobs. I found out he uses an airbrush to accomplish most of his painting and achieves some stunning effects and great blends using this machine. CHEATING BASTARD!!! I mean fine, he gets good results but I hope I am with him when the zombie apocalypse starts. When the generator runs dry and there is no power left I am gonna look at him and be real smug as I yell Try painting one of those in five hours now! Whos the man now Thomas David! Of course sadly I have no doubt he is a wizard with a regular ole sable brush but this is besides the point. If you rely on a machine to do the bulk of the heavy lifting for your painting you are only setting yourself up for failure. When the zombies come especially. Decals! Look man, I can barely write my name so I can read it. So that means freehand on a mini is a tough go for me. And thats fine and dandy sir! I absolutely love drooling over all the beautiful freehand we see on the top shelf minis nowadays. So I think its 58
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unfair that people use decals to try and get decent looking results without taking years of lessons or some sort of pact with an elder god. Using decals just sidesteps the issue at hand and lets you get some great looking results without coughing up time and bucks for lessons. Or selling one of your souls. Its a complete shortcut that is really not being fair to the freehand masters out there. I mean... sure applying decals is a skill all in itself but it doesnt eliminate the fact that decals are cheating! Converting a mini is a nice way to make your project a more unique canvas to assault with your brush and paints. You might have a vision in your mind that would add a gas mask or a backpack to an existing space ork mini. So whip out the green stuff and the polymer clay and gets to sculpting my friend. Whats this? You say you cant sculpt past making little green stuff snakes or round scale rubber balls out of milliput? Tough beans! It is important that we recognize the people who are truly capable of producing skillful and well thought out conversions through their skills with different putties and such. If you are not one of these gifted, talented, wizard-like people then you can make do with the stock figurines you have in front of you. Dont get any ideas about jazzing them up if youre not prepared to do the work yourself! There. I got that off my chest. Like all hobbies there are rules to mini painting. I mean, sure I have an airbrush. A nifty little Iwata number that really is the cats ass. Yeah I have a large collection of decals but I BARELY use them. Honest! Yes... from time to time I like to pick up some after market conversion bits for my stock kits but I am trying to cut back. I promise. But I would never, ever, never-ever use a pre made resin base! Okay maybe just once. OKAY I USE THEM ALL THE TIME! Its not my fault. In the end I find myself using tools and tips perfected by people smarter and better than I but its not cheating if I do it... I am just trying to level the playing field because everyone else is more talented I NEED a little something EXTRA to help me be better at my craft. I know that line of defence worked for Lance Armstrong so it should be good enough for me. Right?

In the next issue of Portal well be closing 2012 with a bang. Well bring more great reviews from the most popular manufacturers as well as tutorials and othe inspirational articles. Well also have all the entries from the Reaper Miniatures Painting contest and much, much more! Available for download Friday 16th December!

With over 2000 members and a 15% month on month increase as well as over 7000 page impressions daily not to mention Portal, the No1 free monthly mini painting magazine that averages over 3,000 downloads per month. Wamp is a growing, vibrant web based community with members based all over the world, many of whom are regular contributors to other hobby based forums. This means that advertising with WAMP will be one of the most positive things you can do to make your business grow. If you have products relevant to Miniature Painting, Wargaming or Roleplaying then WAMP members are your targeted market. If not, our audience are also interested in related products such as Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical and Military related media as well as Art and Photography so it is still a good idea to advertise with us because WAMP is a vast community and for a lot of its members the first place to seek advice on books, video games, movies and much, much more. Apart from classified ads, which are black and white only, all adverts are full colour. If need be we can even design it for you free of charge. It will include your company logo and any images or text you require plus direct weblinks to your companys website.

For more information go to www.wamp-forum.com/advertise or email us on portal@wamp-forum.com

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YOUR COMPLETE HOBBY FIX UNDER ONE ROOF!

This month the Wampstore is totally addicted to base! We are offering you a rather nice 25% off ALL our bases AND basing materials. So everything from resin bases to MiniNatur tufts, bricks to aluminium mesh and everything in-between. So its a great chance to stock up on some nice little bits to make your bases even more awesome than usual. To take advantage of this offer simply enter PORTAL28 into the coupon code at checkout. The offer runs until 15th December 2012.

The Wampstore is continuing to grow even bigger with new ranges being added all the time. We now stock a wide variety of products from these companies
Avatars of War Basecrafts Bushido Foundations of War Guild of Harmony Hasslefree Joek Minis Kabuki Muellers Monsters MaxMini MiniNatur Model Display Products Morland Studios Orki PK-Pro Rosemary & Co Stone Tower miniatures Studio38 Studio Miniatures TIN Bits The Basement Tor gaming War Gri on miniatures Warploque Miniatures Red Box Games